Mark Dunn

Mark Dunn
Born (1956-07-12) July 12, 1956 (age 68)
Memphis, Tennessee, U.S.
OccupationAuthor, playwright
NationalityAmerican
Alma materMemphis State University
University of Texas at Austin

Mark Dunn (born July 12, 1956, in Memphis, Tennessee) is an American author and playwright. He studied film at Memphis State University (now the University of Memphis) followed by post-graduate work in screenwriting at the University of Texas at Austin moving to New York in 1987 where he worked in the New York Public Library while writing plays in his free time.

Among the 35 plays Dunn has written (as of 2023), Belles and Five Tellers Dancing in the Rain have been produced over one 150 times. Dunn served as playwright-in-residence with the New Jersey Repertory Company and the Community Theatre League in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.[1]

Dunn is the author of the popular "progressively lipogrammatic" novel Ella Minnow Pea (2001).

In 1998, Dunn sued the writers, distributors and producers of The Truman Show, claiming that the story was based on a play he had written and performed Off-Broadway in 1992, Frank's Life.[2][3]

Personal life

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Originally from Memphis, Dunn now resides with his wife, Mary, in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Published full-length plays

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  • Belles (1989)[4]
  • Minus Some Buttons (1991)[5]
  • Sand Pies and Scissorlegs (1992)[6]
  • Five Tellers Dancing in the Rain (1994)[7]
  • Judge and Jury (1994)[8]
  • Frank's Life (1998)[9]
  • Cabin Fever: A Texas Tragicomedy (2000)[10][11]
  • The Deer and the Antelope Play (2001)[12]
  • Helen's Most Favorite Day (2005)[13]
  • Dix Tableaux (2007)[14]
  • A Delightful Quarantine (2007)[15]
  • PIGmalion (2010)[16]
  • Seven Interviews (2014)[17]
  • LMNOP (2015)[18]
  • Belles: The Reunion (2016)[19]
  • Happily Ever After: A Wedding Comedy (2016)
  • The Glitter Girls (2018)[20]
  • The Puzzle with the Piazza (2022)[21]

Books

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  • Ella Minnow Pea (2001)[22]
  • Welcome to Higby (2002)[23]
  • Ibid: A Life (2004)[24]
  • Zounds! A Browser's Dictionary of Interjections (2005)
  • The Calamitous Adventures of Rodney And Wayne (2009)
  • Under the Harrow (2012)[25]
  • American Decameron (2012)
  • We Five (2015)
  • Pentaptych (2018)
  • Quizzing America: Television Game Shows and Popular Culture in the 1950s (2018)
  • Texas People's Court: The Fascinating World of the Texas Justice of the Peace (2022)

References

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  1. ^ "Mark Dunn | Penguin Random House". PenguinRandomhouse.com. Retrieved 2023-04-29.
  2. ^ Rohde, David (June 17, 1998). "Writer Accuses The Producers Of 'Truman'". The New York Times.
  3. ^ Hollywood stole my life, independent.co.uk; accessed March 25, 2015.
  4. ^ Dunn, Mark (1989). Belles: A Play in Two Acts and Thirty-nine Phone Calls. Samuel French, Inc. ISBN 978-0-573-69141-6.
  5. ^ Dunn, Mark (1991). Minus Some Buttons: A Play in Two Acts. Samuel French, Inc. ISBN 978-0-573-69278-9.
  6. ^ "Sand Pies and Scissorlegs". Concord Theatricals. Retrieved 2023-04-29.
  7. ^ Dunn, Mark (1994). Five Tellers Dancing in the Rain: A Play in Two Acts. Samuel French, Inc. ISBN 978-0-573-69443-1.
  8. ^ "Judge and Jury". Concord Theatricals. Retrieved 2023-04-29.
  9. ^ Dunn, Mark (1998). Frank's Life: A Play in Two Acts. Dramatic Publishing. ISBN 978-0-87129-858-4.
  10. ^ "Cabin Fever: A Texas Tragicomedy". Concord Theatricals. Retrieved 2023-04-29.
  11. ^ Dunn, Mark (2000). Cabin Fever: A Texas Tragicomedy. Samuel French, Inc. ISBN 978-0-573-62746-0.
  12. ^ "Dramatists Play Service, Inc". www.dramatists.com. Retrieved 2023-04-29.
  13. ^ "Helen's Most Favorite Day". Concord Theatricals. Retrieved 2023-04-29.
  14. ^ "Dix Tableaux". Concord Theatricals. Retrieved 2023-04-29.
  15. ^ Dunn, Mark (2007). A Delightful Quarantine: A Play about a Homebound Town. Samuel French, Inc. ISBN 978-0-573-65067-3.
  16. ^ "PIGmalion". Concord Theatricals. Retrieved 2023-04-29.
  17. ^ "Seven Interviews". Concord Theatricals. Retrieved 2023-04-29.
  18. ^ "LMNOP". Concord Theatricals. Retrieved 2023-04-29.
  19. ^ "Perform Catalog | Samuel French". Concord Theatricals. Retrieved 2023-04-29.
  20. ^ "The Glitter Girls". Concord Theatricals. Retrieved 2023-04-29.
  21. ^ "The Puzzle With The Piazza". Concord Theatricals. Retrieved 2023-04-29.
  22. ^ Dunn, Mark (2001). Ella Minnow Pea: A Progressively Lipogrammatic Epistolary Fable. RB Large Print. ISBN 978-1-4025-6617-2.
  23. ^ Lodge |, Sally. "MacAdam/Cage Introduces Its Inaugural Children's Series". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 2023-04-29.
  24. ^ Dunn, Mark (2004). Ibid: A Life : a Novel in Footnotes. MacAdam/Cage Pub. ISBN 978-1-931561-65-5.
  25. ^ Dunn, Mark (2012). Under the Harrow. MacAdam/Cage Publishing, Incorporated. ISBN 978-1-59692-377-5.
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